Stephane Pelletier Injured, Out of Ringside 12 Title Defense

Just three weeks out from Ringside 12, Bantamweight champion Stéphane Pelletier (5-1) has pulled out of his scheduled bout due to injury. He was set to defend his title October 21st at the Bell Centre against Michel Gagnon (7-1).

According to L’Echo Abitibien, a regional newspaper in Pelletier’s native Val d’Or, Quebec, he suffered a broken fifth metarsus in his right foot.

Pelletier’s head trainer and manager, Jean-Francois Bacon, sent the following when contacted for comment:

“Steph hurt his foot training a few weeks back. We didn’t think much of it at first but as the weeks passed it wasn’t getting any better. So he went to check it out and the x-rays showed a fracture on his right foot. He has to wear a type of cast for a month. We’ll see how it goes from there but I expect him to need another month or so (once the cast is off) to get back into fighting shape.”

The title defense would have been Pelletier’s first since winning the belt at Ringside 11 via injury TKO over Dimitri Waardenburg.

Michel ‘Mitch’ Gagnon,7-1, was set to make his bantamweight debut, challenging Pelletier for his title.

His challenger, Michel Gagnon, is Ringside’s featherweight champion. His fight with Pelletier would have signified his debut ten pounds down at bantamweight. With Ringside 12 taking place in three and a half weeks, it remains to be seen whether Gagnon will get a new opponent, and if he’ll still be fighting at bantamweight.

Gagnon was last seen in action successfully defending his featherweight title at Ringside 10 in a superb fight-of-the-night performance against Rejean Groulx.